


You Learn Something New Every Day

by Winter_S_Jameson



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Drama, Fluff, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 00:11:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1283989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_S_Jameson/pseuds/Winter_S_Jameson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel's learned some valuable lessons over the years, and how he did causes SG-1 to learn something totally unexpected about Daniel. Oh, and they do a little bit of healing along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Learn Something New Every Day

**Author's Note:**

> _Okay, I'm a huge American football fan. The Green Bay Packers, to be precise. And I'm a huge fan of Stargate SG-1. This story is my way of joining the two. I make no apologies._

Ten-year-old Daniel Jackson sat in the bedroom of his newest foster home one Sunday morning three months after he’d moved in, a textbook open in front of him. He’d finished what little homework he had an hour after he’d gotten home that Friday; now he was just reading ahead for fun. He found it hard to concentrate, however, due to the sound of running footsteps going back and forth downstairs.

Daniel sighed and found himself smiling. His foster father was apparently getting ready for that day’s football game; he never seemed to remember to grab everything he needed to set up his place in the living room in one trip. Mister Finley was a rabid New York Giants fan, and had been surprised when his new foster son had admitted to a total lack of knowledge about the sport. But he’d just smiled at the shy boy and invited him to sit in during the season opener. Even better, the man hadn’t taken offense when Daniel turned that invitation down, preferring to spend the time in his room reading.

Since then, every Saturday night before bed, Mister Finley had simply let Daniel know that he was welcome to sit with him the next day. He’d be more than happy to explain the rules of the game. And Daniel always smiled and thanked him quietly, but he’d never taken him up on the offer. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested, though. He was just sort of intimidated by the energetic man.

Until two days previously. When Daniel had walked out the front doors of the elementary school, a very full backpack on his back, he’d been confronted by a small group of larger boys from his sixth grade class. They had surrounded and taunted him, the teasing quickly becoming nasty. It was almost certain that things would be getting physical before too long, if only a few pushes and shoves. It had happened a couple of times before, these boys not fond of the fact that Daniel had skipped a grade.

Just before the confrontation escalated, a looming shadow fell over them all. Daniel’s foster father had gotten off of work early and come by the school to pick him up, and had been totally surprised to come upon the scene. A growling threat to make sure the leader of the group of bullies found out about what was going on if this ever happened again had the crowd quickly dispersing, much to Daniel’s surprise. But what shocked him even more was that Mister Finley then knelt down to his level, took a gentle hold of his shoulders, and sincerely asked him if he was all right.

Daniel could only nod, speechless. Then he was told that if those boys ever threatened him in any way again, he was to tell someone, anyone, and if that didn’t work to tell him. He would definitely make it stop. Then Mister Finely smiled, rose to his feet, and gently guided Daniel to the car. The preteen even got an extra snack when they got home.

Daniel had been flabbergasted by the reaction. Whenever he’d said anything about being bothered by kids at school to his previous foster parents, he was told that that’s just how kids were and he’d have to get used to it. They hadn’t actually physically hurt him after all. If it got worse he could tell his teacher. So Daniel stopped saying anything and accepted the situation.

But Mister Finley protected him. And by doing so he’d confirmed Daniel’s instincts that it wasn’t right to push someone around just because they were different. He’d especially confirmed that there were people out there that could care for a lost, orphaned genius stuck in the foster care system. There were good people out there; maybe Daniel just had to keep looking for them.

For now, Daniel wanted to do something to show his foster father just how much the man’s actions had meant to him. After a moment of intense thought, the solution became clear. Closing his book, the blond boy left his bedroom and headed downstairs. Today he would take the kind man up on his offer to watch a football game together. It was the least he could do.

Mister Finley had been so happy when Daniel had joined him with a shy smile there could be no regrets. The man had hurried into the kitchen to get the boy a soda and his own bag of potato chips, offering to share the tub of French onion dip that sat on the coffee table. And he eagerly fulfilled his promise to explain the rules of the game. Any time Daniel had a question about what was going on, it was immediately answered in detail. The only negative thing that happened was that the Giants lost, forty to fourteen.

When the game was over, Daniel could almost understand why people got excited about the sport. There had been some exciting action, although he wasn’t sure about the violence of some of those tackles. And the broadcasters talked about the history of the sport, a sure way to get Daniel interested in just about anything. They talked about the head coach of the team that won, how he’d been the quarterback for them when they’d won the Super Bowl some years back and how the team had been around since 1921.

It was enough to send Daniel to the library the next day after school to do some research. And that research was enough for him to develop a complete fascination with the small market team that refused to give up, always finding a way to continue on no matter the odds. They had become a very successful franchise, proving that the little guy could come out on top if he just didn’t give up.

It was a valuable lesson Daniel would keep close to his heart.

* * * * * * * *

Daniel stared up at the ceiling of Jack O’Neill’s spare room, his mind unable to stop working long enough for him to fall asleep, which was totally understandable considering the circumstances. His beloved wife Sha’re and her brother Skaara had been kidnapped by a Ra-like parasite, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be allowed to join the team that would be going through the stargate to find her. All he could think of were the might-have-beens, all the things he could have done differently to keep this horrible thing from happening.

Finally, he sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed, his hands coming up to scrub his face in frustration. This wasn’t working. Maybe there was something in the house he could read that would help calm his jumbled thoughts, or some kind of television program. He’d have to be as quiet as he could; there was no need to wake up Jack, especially considering the man’s kindness in bringing him here. There was also the fact that he didn’t want to have another heart-to-heart, didn’t want to have to discuss the dark visions racing through his brain that had caused this bout of insomnia. Although Daniel had a feeling Jack wasn’t the talk-out-your-emotional-problems type of guy.

Blowing out a large puff of air, Daniel snatched his glasses from the nightstand, pushed himself to his feet, and softly headed out of the guest room. There was a brief moment of indecision as he tried to remember which way his destination was in, but it soon passed. A minute or so later he was standing in the middle of the living room, staring at the shelves of books on the wall opposite the television set. It didn’t take long to figure out there were no titles catching his eye.

With a sigh, Daniel turned his attention to the videos in the entertainment center. He knew there would only be infomercials on at that time of the morning - there was no way American culture had changed _that_ much while he was gone - so it would have to be some kind of movie or recorded program. Unfortunately most of what Jack had recorded on tape were hockey games and episodes of The Simpsons. Daniel couldn’t help rolling his eyes at that. Apparently Jack was a guy’s guy, and his sport of choice was one in which the archaeologist had absolutely no interest. Figured.

What few movies there were to be found were action/adventure types, or so the titles suggested, with an even smaller number of comedies that sounded rather inane. Not what Daniel was in the mood for by any stretch of the imagination. He’d had his fill of adventure in real life for the moment, and he was pretty sure there was going to be a lot more of that in his future if General Hammond could be convinced to let him be a part of Jack’s team. The brown-haired man frowned. There had to be something here, some sort of secret surprise that could provide the kind of distraction he needed. He just had to find it.

Daniel had just about given up hope of finding anything and was resigning himself to figuring out how hockey worked when he saw the bottom row of videos: taped football games. Jack also liked football. Daniel figured he must have caught most of the games live considering how few football tapes there were. Then he saw the labels. There were a few Minnesota Vikings games, dated from November and December, and then there were the playoff games.

Daniel blinked. Playoffs? He looked at the digital clock with the large display on top of the entertainment center and saw the date in smaller numbers beneath the time. Wow, it was February. He hadn’t realized.

He shook his head and went back to his examination. Then he smiled. Jack was actually pretty organized, not that Daniel was completely surprised. The man’s house was immaculate. But he had kept the AFC and NFC games on separate tapes, each round getting its own VHS cassette. Well, it would make things easy to follow at least.

AFC Wild Card, December 28, 1996, Jacksonville vs. Buffalo; December 29, 1996, Pittsburgh vs. Indianapolis.

Daniel shook his head. That second game must have been one to watch. He didn’t know much about the teams in the other game.

NFC Wild Card, December 28, 1996, Dallas vs. Minnesota; December 29, 1996, San Francisco vs. Philadelphia.

Daniel frowned. Three teams not to like in that bunch, although Jack must have been happy with the first game considering the Vikings’ game tapes. He’d have to see who moved on.

AFC Divisional round, January 4, 1997, Jacksonville vs. Denver; January 5, 1997, New England vs. Pittsburgh.

Daniel tilted his head a bit in consideration. Apparently Jacksonville was a team to watch out for. And the other game sounded like another good match-up.

NFC Divisional round, January 4, 1997, Green Bay vs. San Francisco; January 5, 1997, Carolina vs. Dallas.

What? Daniel took another look at the label and read it again to make sure he hadn’t been seeing things. Divisional round? And not in the Wild Card round? That meant they were one of the top two seeds in the NFC. Yes! He’d have to watch this one.

After a moment spent debating with himself over whether or not he should wreck the suspense, Daniel looked at the next two tapes.

AFC Championship Game, January 12, 1997, New England Patriots vs. Jacksonville Jaguars.

Huh, he’d been right. Jacksonville was a team to look out for.

NFC Championship Game, January 12, 1997, Green Bay Packers vs. Carolina Panthers.

Daniel couldn’t hold back the grin that spread across his features. He was lucky he could resist the urge to pop the tape into the VCR right then and there. They’d made it! But there was one more tape left, one that curbed his enthusiasm and brought a nervous lump to his throat. What teams would he see written there?

Super Bowl XXXI, January 26, 1997, New England Patriots vs. Green Bay Packers.

Without another thought, Daniel turned on the TV and the VCR, muted the volume before turning it back up to a barely audible level, then put the last tape into the machine. This one he absolutely _had_ to see.

As he watched Brett Favre run around, helmet in the air, after the quarterback threw his first Super Bowl touchdown, Daniel thought back to the first game he’d watched with Mister Finley and the time he’d spent doing research the next day. Those were good memories, happy memories from a time when those weren’t always easy to come by. Just like now. He’d let himself be distracted - if only because there was nothing else he could think of to do and he was sure the general wouldn’t appreciate another impassioned plea at two-thirty in the morning - but the rage and the fear and the incredible self-loathing he felt were still there. His wife and brother-in-law were still missing, taken away by the kind of creature that was more than willing to kidnap and enslave an entire population. But there were good, happy memories of his loved ones that he had to pull him through this dark time. That’s what he had to think of now. And they were what he would hold onto until he found them and brought them home.

With that promise to himself made, Daniel found himself able to watch the rest of the game with a quieter mind. And when it was over, he put the tape back where he’d found it and returned to the guest room, falling asleep soon after.

* * * * * * * *

Jack O’Neill sat in his truck in the parking lot at Cheyenne Mountain, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he stared off into space. There was a light snowfall coming down from the grey skies above, standard for the first weekend of December, but Jack saw none of it. SG-1 had come back from a mission two days ago a little worse for wear, some scrapes, cuts, and bruises; nothing too far out of the norm, but it had been the team’s first full off-world mission since the rescue mission on P3X-666. The one where they lost Janet…

Jack squeezed his eyes shut at the memory. It had taken him a while to get back on his feet from the injury he’d received on that mission. Hearing about the doc had added to his recovery time, he was sure, although he wouldn’t admit it out loud. Janet Fraiser would be missed dearly at the SGC, especially by SG-1.

But it had been time to get back to work. There was a lost city to find and a half-ascended goa’uld to get rid of. That first mission back was supposed to be an easy one to ease them back into their usual rhythm, and that’s how it had started. The natives had been friendly and extremely cooperative. They’d only wanted some medical technology and access to some agricultural techniques in exchange for trinium mining rights. But then Daniel had told them about their origins, that their ancestors had been taken from Earth by Heru’ur hundreds if not thousands of years ago, confirming a popular ancient legend.

And that’s when everything turned into a madhouse.

Jack was sure he now understood how the Beatles felt when they were surrounded by their legions of screaming fans. The natives suddenly started to see SG-1 as mega celebrities, representatives of a people the natives had been longing to reunite with for generations. Word spread quickly, and as it did, more and more people surrounded the startled team, eyes bright and expressions awed. The brave souls among them even reached out to touch whatever piece of clothing they could brush their fingers against. It was unnerving.

It finally got to a point where there were too many natives around them for comfort. Jack had Daniel make their excuses - it really was time to check in with the SGC - and began to head for the road out of town. And that’s what made the natives snap. Their heroes were leaving, and people wanted at least a small souvenir to remember them by, to be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they’d seen and touched the glorious saviors from the home world where their people had begun so long ago. They became very glad their clothes were made of some tough material; as the grabs became more insistent, they were forced to run toward the stargate, and no one managed to tear away anything. Well, except for Jack’s Earth symbol patch from his left shoulder. The sound of the Velcro separating had been the signal to start the mad dash.

Along the way there had been slips and falls and branches that whipped at various parts of their bodies. The only slip that had been somewhat troubling was when Daniel had twisted his ankle, causing him to slow a bit as he stumbled. It didn’t take long for the archaeologist to ignore the pain and catch up, but he gave into one heck of a limp once they all hurried through the hastily-opened gate. It was determined that the ankle had only been turned, and Daniel had been given a cane to use for the weekend as a precaution.

All in all, the mission had been a mixed bag. Jack had been hoping to take away some more positives on that first one back, but he’d take what he’d been given. The natives were still more than willing to trade - SG-9 had been thoroughly warned about their possible reception - and no one had been seriously hurt.

So why was Jack feeling so down?

Jack shook off the doldrums and exited his truck, swiftly making his way inside. He’d go with his original plan when he’d left his house: collect Teal’c and Carter and head over to Daniel’s to have an impromptu team get-together. He wouldn’t admit - not even to himself - that this was his way of reassuring himself that his teammates, his _friends_ , were still all right and would remain that way. He couldn’t let himself even consider that Janet’s death still had him a little shaken up.

There was a lucky break waiting for the air force colonel when he took the elevator down into the depths of the SGC. After picking up a surprisingly agreeable Teal’c from his quarters, Jack found that Sam was in her lab putting in some extra time on a pet project. She proved to be quite willing to abandon it for the plan presented to her, however. In fact, once she had put everything away, the two men had to hurry to keep up with her as she headed to the surface.

The two vehicles pulled up to the front of Daniel’s apartment building - he’d needed to move out of the house he’d been renting after the whole Osiris debacle - and the three team members stepped out into the crisp winter air. “It’s actually quite pretty,” Sam said as she rubbed her hands together, looking around to watch the snowflakes drift softly down.

“Yeah, but it’s cold,” Jack retorted. “Let’s get inside before we turn into popsicles.”

“Did you call ahead to let Daniel know we were coming?” Sam asked as they reached the archaeologist’s door.

Jack snorted. “What, and spoil the surprise? Knowing Daniel, he’s sitting around with the History Channel on while he reads a paper by some musty old professor about some musty old civilization - hopefully with his ankle elevated like the doc told him - with some hidden nugget of truth he’ll pull out of his head at the weirdest time to save our butts.” He knocked on the door. “Either that, or he’s working on some complicated translation that he was told to leave at the mountain.”

Teal’c’s eyebrow rose. “Did Daniel Jackson not promise to leave his projects behind for the weekend?” the Jaffa asked.

“Well, yeah,” Jack admitted reluctantly. He quickly dropped the subject and turned his attention to the door to knock again, knowing full well that Daniel always kept his word when he offered it. “Come on, Daniel, answer,” he muttered, frowning. His brows furrowed as he turned his gaze to his companions. “Did Daniel seem quiet to you guys when he left on Friday? I know the things that happened lately have really hit him hard, but I thought he was getting better.”

“Yeah, he was quiet,” Sam confirmed, “but he was still able to give me a little smile when he said goodbye.” The blonde’s eyes widened. “That’s why you wanted us to come here,” she said with a tone of realization. Her knowing gaze said she was aware there was more to it, but she didn’t say anything further.

Jack just gave her an slightly embarrassed half-grin in acknowledgement, then sighed. “Okay, I’m thinking Daniel just might be in there thinking too much, letting the last couple of months replay in his head. So,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out the spare key Daniel had made sure each of them had in case of emergencies, “we’re going to invite ourselves inside.” Before either of the others could offer a word of protest, he put the key in the lock and opened the door.

Daniel’s apartment was relatively tidy as usual, but missing the figure of its occupant. “Daniel?” Sam called from just inside the space as Teal’c closed the door behind them.

Jack frowned and headed for the living room on the other side of the short wall that created a sense of separation from the kitchen just ahead of them beyond the coat closet to their right, instinctually slipping off his wet shoes before he left the tiles. “Daniel?” he echoed.

“You don’t think he’s taking a nap, do you?” Sam asked Teal’c.

“I do not,” the Jaffa replied. “The television is on, and at a volume that would not allow for a comfortable rest. I believe Daniel Jackson would have turned it off if he had chosen to retire to his bedroom.”

“That’s true,” Sam conceded with a nod.

Teal’c’s eyebrows rose slightly. “I also believe that Daniel Jackson is merely using the restroom, as there is an unopened beverage on the counter.” He gestured to the can sitting on the end of the kitchen island.

Jack had come to a sudden halt at the end of the wall. “You have got to be kidding me,” Jack muttered.

The other two shared a look. “What is it, sir?” Sam asked.

“You need to see this for yourself, Carter. I’m not even going to try to explain.”

Sam and Teal’c moved forward as Jack stepped into the living room proper. The flat screen TV rested on a sleek stand in the far left-hand corner of the space, a beige-colored sectional hugging the corner the short wall created and two comfortable ivory-colored armchairs finishing off the sitting area. A dark brown leather ottoman served as a coffee table, a large tray with an open container of French onion dip and a bowl of potato chips currently residing on it. The snack was surprising enough on its own, but the true shock came when they realized what was playing on the screen.

“Daniel watches football?” Sam asked in disbelief. “Without it being forced on him by you, sir?”

“Hey!” Jack protested.

“Well, you have to admit that he only participates in your team hockey night under protest,” Sam defended herself.

Jack just scowled at her. “He has fun.”

Teal’c gave him an even look. “Daniel Jackson enjoys the company more than the activity,” he declared confidently.

The colonel’s frown deepened as he turned back to the TV. “What I want to know is why he didn’t tell me about this before,” he complained.

“You never asked, Jack.”

The three visitors turned around to see their host standing at the beginning of the hall that led back to the two bedrooms and one bathroom of his apartment. Daniel wore an amused smile as he leaned slightly on his cane, the can that had been on the counter now in his hand.

Jack blinked. “Where did you come from?”

“Egypt originally, on one of my parents’ digs. My birth certificate says Cairo, though.” He shrugged. “That’s where the hospital was where Mom and Dad filled out the paperwork.”

“Daniel…” Jack’s eyes narrowed.

“Jack.” Daniel’s expression grew more amused.

“How long have you been a football fan?” Sam asked, deciding to cut the two men off before they could really get started.

Daniel’s expression softened into a light smile as he turned his attention to her. “Since I was ten. Mister Finley, one of my foster fathers, got me interested.”

Jack’s expression turned confused. “And how did he manage that? I’ve been trying for years to get you interested in hockey.”

The brown-haired man shrugged. “He stood up for me once at a time when I really needed to know that was possible. So, to pay him back for his kindness, I took him up on his offer to watch a Giants game with him as he explained the rules. He was a good teacher, and I was hooked.”

“So you’re a New York Giants fan?” Jack said with a little distaste in his tone.

“I never said that. I just said that I was watching a Giants game when I became interested in the sport.” Daniel limped forward and moved to sit in the corner of the couch, elevating his left leg on the chaise section. He added the can he’d been holding to the tray.

“Is your beverage of choice not coffee, Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c asked when he saw the logo on the aluminum container.

Jack blinked and took a closer look himself. “Hey, yeah. Since when do you drink Pepsi?”

Daniel’s answering smile was touched with a wistful note. “This is what Mister Finley always had when he watched a game,” he said, gesturing at the spread.

“This Mister Finley was really special, wasn’t he?” Sam asked, sitting down beside her friend.

“Yeah, he was,” Daniel confirmed, giving her a smile. “That was the nicest family I ever got to stay with.”

Jack just looked at the younger man, surprised at how willing he’d been to answer their questions. It was the most he’d ever willingly disclosed about his past. But there was still something he wanted to know. “So just who are you rooting for, Daniel?” he asked.

Daniel merely gestured at the T-shirt he wore under a solid green flannel shirt. He struggled unsuccessfully to fight back a grin.

“You’re a Cheesehead?” Jack exclaimed once he’d taken in the simple stylized “G” on the dark green background. “Have you ever even _been_ to Wisconsin?”

“Are you forgetting that I went to school in Chicago?” Daniel asked.

“That’s Illinois, Daniel. I was born there, remember?”

Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “I doubt you’d ever let anyone forget. Besides, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to the border. Milwaukee is only an hour and a half away by train.”

Jack shook his head. “How in the world did you ever become a Cheesehead?”

“I do not believe I have heard of a football team called the Cheeseheads,” Teal’c declared before Daniel could respond.

The others just stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. “The Packers, Teal’c. Daniel’s a fan of the Green Bay Packers,” Sam explained as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Sometimes Packer fans are called Cheeseheads because of the foam cheese wedge hats some of them wear.”

Jack took a quick look around the room. “You don’t actually have one of those things, do you?” he asked.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “No, Jack. Foam cheese wedges just aren’t my style.”

“The colonel did ask a good question, though, Daniel,” Sam said. “How did you become a Packers fan?”

“Who do you think the Giants were playing when I watched that first game?” Daniel replied. “The announcers talked about how Bart Starr had been the quarterback for the team when they’d been in the first two Super Bowls and was now in his first year as the head coach. They talked about how the team was formed in 1921, the team’s eleven world championships up to that point, and the legendary Vince Lombardi. It all interested me enough to send me to the library the next day to do some research on the team, and what I found fascinated me. Green Bay is the smallest NFL market, yet they’ve managed to keep a team pretty much continuously since 1921. Only the Chicago Bears are older, and that’s not by much. They ended up selling shares of stock in the team to the public, making them the only publicly-owned team in the league. There’s a lot of history there.”

“Trust you to pick a team to follow based on history,” Jack said with a smile, shaking his head.

Daniel smiled. “Well, they also won that first game I watched by a score of forty to fourteen. I had no idea at the time that they hadn’t been very successful since Lombardi left the team after the second Super Bowl in early 1968, only reaching the postseason once in 1972.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose. “Would it have made a difference?”

The younger man considered it. “No, probably not,” he finally answered. “Now why don’t you guys go ahead and sit down? You can grab something to drink and settle in before the second half starts.”

“Was the history of the team the only factor in your decision to become a fan?” Teal’c asked as he sat next to Sam and Jack went into the kitchen to get the drinks.

“No,” Daniel said quietly once he opened his can of soda and took a sip. “I liked the fact that they were based out of a small city, yet had made such a huge impact on the sport. It kind of gave me hope that maybe I could do the same thing when I grew up.”

“And you have,” Sam assured him with a smile, reaching over and giving his arm a gentle squeeze. Daniel just gave her an appreciative smile in return.

Jack moved one of the armchairs over to make sure he had a better view of the TV once he’d handed sodas to Sam and Teal’c, then settled in. “You know, I’m thinking there’s another reason you didn’t tell me about this whole football thing,” he declared, popping open his own can. Daniel’s fridge had been glaringly empty of beer and it had slipped his mind to bring his own. “I mean, there have been plenty of times I was talking about football, and you never said a word.”

Daniel sighed. “I didn’t want to get into it because you’re a Vikings fan, Jack. That was an argument I wasn’t keen to have with you.”

Jack frowned, confused. “How did you know I was a Vikings fan? I never talked about any specific team.”

Daniel told him about his search through the older man’s tape collection his first night back from Abydos. “The team-specific tapes were kind of a dead giveaway, Jack. Although you have no idea how thrilled I was to watch us win world championship number twelve.” The archaeologist grinned.

“Oh, I bet I do,” Jack refuted, but decided not to get into it. The sportscasters were back on discussing the early games that were in the middle of being played, and he knew that meant the second half was about to start. “And just so you know, I may be a Vikings fan, but I’m not nearly as fanatical about it as I am about hockey. When it comes to football, I’m a little more live and let live.” He narrowed his eyes. “Green Bay isn’t playing Minnesota today, are they?”

“No, the Bears,” Daniel told him.

“Then I can back you up today,” Jack said with a shrug and leaned back in his chair.

Sam looked at Daniel. “If you’re watching the Packers, that means that you didn’t get the sports package for your satellite dish because the colonel was giving you a hard time,” she commented shrewdly. “You did it so you could watch your team’s games here in Colorado.”

Daniel’s eyes closed briefly with a sigh. “You would figure that out.”

“Don’t worry, Danny-boy, doesn’t bother me in the least,” Jack told him expansively. “You got the package, and that’s all that matters. Sports night can still cycle through here once every three times.”

“Which you’re really happy about because that means that one-third of the time _I_ have to buy your beer and snacks,” Daniel shot back.

“You must tell me the history of this team that has captured your devotion, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said.

Daniel smiled at him. “I can do you one better, Teal’c. I’ll take you to Lambeau Field the next time I go and we’ll take a tour of their Hall of Fame. It’s a great set-up; I really like it. The three Lombardi Trophies are on display, and they have samples of all the different uniforms they’ve worn through the ages.”

Jack sat up as Sam turned her head to stare. “You’ve been to Lambeau Field?” the colonel asked. “To see a game?”

“Um, yeah. I even saw some games at Milwaukee County Stadium when they held a couple there every year. Went to school in Chicago, remember? It wasn’t difficult.”

“You’ve been there recently?” Sam asked.

“I try to go at least once a year. There’s nothing like seeing a game at Lambeau.” Daniel smiled, an extra twinkle in his eyes at the stunned expressions on Jack and Sam’s faces.

Jack finally shook his head as the second half of the game started. “Lambeau Field is a classic place to see a game. I wish I could say I’d been there.”

“How about this? I was going to try to pick up a ticket for the Denver game on the 28th. How about I look for four and we can all go? If I can get us in one of the end zones, maybe we’ll be close enough to experience a Lambeau Leap.”

“What is a Lambeau Leap?” Teal’c asked as Sam and Jack began to grin.

“After a Packer player scores a touchdown, most of the time they’ll run over and jump into the stands. It’s their way of sharing the celebration with their fans. It’s also a lot of fun.” Daniel also began to grin.

Jack laughed as he rubbed his hands together. “All right! Team bonding at the Frozen Tundra! I’m loving it!”

Once Daniel explained what Frozen Tundra meant to Teal’c and they finished watching the game - the Packers won 34-21 - the members of SG-1 spent the rest of the evening planning out their trip. It was just what they needed to start to move on from the horrible past couple of months they’d just been through, and the trip itself would prove to be a wonderful bonding experience for them. It would also help them through the tough times that would follow not long after.

All in all, not a bad lesson learned by all.


End file.
